Pushing boundaries with the best of both worlds

By Christian Jank, Process Engineer, Sheetfed, Koenig & Bauer

 

Coming originally from an offset background and having spent many years in digital print applications, I’ve seen the best of both worlds.

Digital printing is reshaping the folding carton market by enabling rapid, flexible, and sustainable production solutions. While it’s not a replacement for traditional methods, its role is growing, particularly for shorter runs, design flexibility, versioning, and agile production needs.
A large portion of folding carton converters see the future of the packaging industry as a hybrid approach, combining digital and conventional printing to balance cost, scale, and customization needs.

The feedback I’ve received indicates that the VariJET 106 single-pass press, a collaborative development by Durst and Koenig & Bauer specifically for the folding carton markets, will transform business operations.

Among its big strengths are the outstanding color-to-color registration and machine stability ensuring high uptimes. Customers are amazed that you can print black negative in as little as 4pt font even with the densest black. It’s particularly useful with barcode work when every job is different.

All-in-one production – particularly with embellishment possible for anything from tobacco packaging to pharmaceutical applications – is also becoming increasingly important. We have a unique position with this level of productivity (our VariJET 106 runs at 5,550sph) in line embellishment in B1 digital format.

One Koenig & Bauer customer from the UAE we saw at drupa was blown away by the capabilities of the VariJET 106 on carton boxes for whisky, which included vinyl on uncoated paper. Their feedback to the dark green, embellished tint used were extremely positive.

Another customer visiting our VariJET Demo Center was impressed by the color registration and quality of the hair coloration on the printed packaging for a major brand. Critical to the success was achieving the grey balance.

People may ask, ‘Why invest in digital?’ To me, it is simple: Digital packaging printing on the VariJET eliminates time-consuming processes such as color matching for new packaging products. From concept to market-ready product, the timeline will be reduced from weeks to mere days.

The quality is there to meet the demands of the packaging industry. Digital printing in folding carton markets has an important future, one I’m glad to be part!